The Philadelphia Eagles will presumably be entering a brave new offensive world in the 2024 season, moving away from Nick Sirianni’s admittedly “stale” offense and handing the keys to Kellen Moore, the former offensive coordinator in Dallas and with the Los Angeles Chargers this past season.
Those keys will come with the fob of Jeff Stoutland, the Eagles’ well-regarded offensive line coach and run-game coordinator, and the one constant on the Philadelphia coaching staff in the post-Andy Reid era.
Moore, 35, would certainly fit the bill as a Jeffrey Lurie favorite and was interviewed for the Eagles head-coaching job in 2021 when he was 33 years old and just three years clear of his playing career.
A brilliant college player at Boise State, Moore was the first quarterback in FBS history to win 50 games in his career. He finished his time with the Broncos with a 50-3 record as a starter and was one of three finalists for the Maxwell Award along with Andrew Luck and Trent Richardson.
At only 6-foot and with an underwhelming fastball and minimal movement skills, Moore wasn’t considered a high-level pro prospect and ultimately signed as an undrafted free agent with Detroit in 2012, spending parts of six seasons in the league.
From the start, many around the game pegged Moore as a future coach because of his high football IQ and understanding of the QB position.
He went fresh from the playing field in Dallas to being Dak Prescott’s quarterback coach in 2018 and was an OC by 2019, his second as a coach.
Lurie believes that the path to consistent winning in the modern NFL is a high-octane passing offense and Moore has delivered that consistently with two high-level QBs in Prescott and Justin Herbert.
The missing piece of the puzzle will be mixing that in with a more balanced attack, something Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy wanted when he decided to move on from Moore after the 2022 campaign.
Judging by his history, Moore should swing the pendulum in Philadelphia to more motion, more Jalen Hurts under center, and a better feel for beating the blitz, the latter a big problem for the Eagles during their 1-6 implosion to end the 2023 season.
Sirianni will attempt to mesh Moore’s “fresh ideas” with the things the Eagles excelled at over the past three seasons, especially the running game.
As a pass-heavy OC Moore’s weakness has been the ground game and the willingness to use it to close out games.
Enter Stoutland and his stewardship of one of the NFL’s best offensive lines and his status as the run-game coordinator.
For all the criticism Lurie has gotten for eschewing continuity on the coaching staff since Andy Reid left after the 2012 season, that hasn’t been the case with Stoutland, who has been the constant briding the staff of Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson and now Sirianni.
If Stoutland can marry the situational aspect of the running game with Moore’s proven capability to put together a stellar passing game, Sirianni’s forced CEO tenure will start well.
